DARDANELLE — The Dardanelle Sand Lizards won’t wait a second longer to wear full pads than the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) forces them to — the Sand Lizards are clashing helmets first thing Saturday morning at the fourth annual Midnight Madness at Keenan Field and Sand Lizard Gymnasium.

The practice begins on late Friday night and carries over into early Saturday morning.

“The AAA says we can’t wear full pads until Saturday, so Saturday morning at midnight, we’re going to put on pads, practice and scrimmage under the stadium lights,” Dardanelle head coach Josh Price said.

It’s the first time since the Red and White Scrimmage held earlier this year the team has the chance to run full-speed drills and have contact with one another. According to Price, they are looking forward to it.

After a full practice and scrimmage, the coaches and the players will spend the night in the field house playing video games, eating and, according to Price, developing team chemistry.

“We try to make an effort for our kids,” Price said. “We ask a whole lot of them throughout the summer with workouts and time commitment, but we’re doing something extra, too. We’re going to show them that we want them to have fun, too.”

Besides building camaraderie between the players, Price said it gives the coaches a chance to bond with the team as well.

The scrimmage will be held on Keenan Field at midnight and is open to the public. Price said a few hundred people came out last year to support the Sand Lizards.

“Lots of parents, junior high kids and fans show up to watch,” Price said. “It’s the first time the kids are hitting each other.”

Besides the fun and games, the team will be subject to heavy conditioning. Price said they will spend a portion of the night running gassers, 40’s and many of the other endurance related conditioning the team participates in to help them power through the fourth quarter of a difficult game.

“We condition a lot during Midnight Madness,” Price said. “We run the darn out of them. The kids know that we’re going to have fun and hang out, but they also know that we are going to be doing a lot of conditioning.”

While the scrimmage is open to the public, the lock-in itself is only open to senior high football players. Although many junior high players attend the scrimmage, Price joked he wasn’t quite ready to stay an entire night with junior high kids.

“Once they are in senior high, hopefully they are mature enough for something like this,” he said. “But junior high kids can be a lot.”